Press Release

HRK on the "Quality Offensive in Teacher Education": the first step towards better funding has been taken

4. March 2015

"The German Rectors' Conference has been emphasising for some time that teacher education is not being adequately funded," explained the HRK Vice-President for Teaching and Studying, Prof. Dr. Holger Burckhart, after today's publication of the first decisions on the "Quality Offensive in Teacher Education" by the federal and state governments.

"There is now some movement with regard to funding with the initial decisions now having been published. Politicians have therefore recognised the importance of teacher education for the entire educational system in Germany. We hope that the number of people funded will increase significantly in the next round and that there will be a broader regional distribution."

Dr. Burckhart continued: "There has been a strong momentum in teacher education over recent years. Higher education institutions have introduced a range of measures to make teacher education more practical and to deal with new challenges, such as inclusion. Technical disciplines, teaching methodology and educational sciences are working ever more closely together to further develop degree programmes. Around two thirds of projects involve higher education institutions, which have fully or mostly switched their degree teaching to the Bachelor's/Master's structure."